Portable water closet with valved bowl



May 17, 1966 K. A. MILETTE ETAL 3,251,068

PORTABLE WATER CLOSET WITH VALVED BOWL 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 5,1964 May 17, 1966 K. A. MILETTE ETAL 3,251,068

PORTABLE WATER CLOSET WITH VALVED BOWL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 5,1964 United States Patent 3 251,068 PORTABLE WATER CIZOSET WITH VALVEDBOWL Kenneth A. Milette, 16110 Lear Court, Valinda, and Forrest B. Bond,3237 Minnesota Ave., Costa Mesa, Calif. Filed Jan. 3, 1964, Ser. No.335,578 14 Claims. (Cl. 4--78) This inventionrelates to a portabletoilet and, more particularly, a portable toilet suitable for use invehicles such as house trailers, campers and the like.

The invention is directed to certain needs that have become morepressing with the rapid rise in the use of vehicles for habitation.

One general need is for a toilet that is sufliciently versatile toserve, on the one hand, as a portable toilet for use in cross-countrytraveling and, on the other hand, to serve as a substantially permanenttoilet installation when the vehicle is used at one location for an'extended period of time. This need is met by a selfcontained toiletstructure that is inherently light enough at its maximum liquid load tobe lifted and carried by a person of moderate strength and yet isadapted for releasable attachment to a permanent sewer connection. Sucha toilet may be emptied at service stations when used in traveling but,nevertheless, may serve as a permanent conventional toilet on longstops.

To meet this need, the toilet is constructed largely of plastic forsaving in weight and the volume of the required water supply for theself-contained toilet unit is minimized to the required degree by highlyeflicient utilization of the water. One feature in this regard is ahighly effective hand operated means for flushing the toilet bowl andanother feature is an arrangement for providing the toilet bowl with awater seal that employs a minimum quantity of water,

Another need is to minimize the likelihood of such a portable toiletgetting out of order and becoming unusable. The invention affords anumber of features which taken together meet this need. 7 I

One of these features is that the basic closure mechanism forcontrolling the outlet from the toilet bowl is extremely simple .andcomprises only two moving parts, namely, a dump pan that normallyretains water for a gas seal and a simple pull rod for manual operationof the dump pan. Another feature is a yielding construction of the dumppan to prevent jamming of the mechanism by solid obstacles. For thislatter purpose the dump pan is of thin, flexible construction to yieldto an obstacle by flexure and the dump pan is further pivotally mountedin-a floating manner for additional yielding action when additionalyielding action is required.

Another feature for meeting the problem of mechanical breakdown relatesto the hand pump that is used for flushing the toilet bowl. A hand pumpnecessarily adds moving parts, including a piston and two valves, toincrease the vulnerability to breakdown and, moreover, repair of such apump may require time and unusual skill. To meet this situation aneflicient but inexpensive plastic hand pump is employed and provision.is made for quickly and conveniently replacing the pump. Thus it ischeaper to replace such a pump than to repair it and trouble in thisdirection may be eliminated simply by carrying a spare pump.

The features and advantages of the invention may be understood from thefollowing detailed description and the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, which are to be regarded .as merely illustrative:

FIG. 1a is a side elevation of a house trailer with a portion brokenaway to show how the toilet may be connected to a sewage outlet;

FIG. 1b is a perspective view of the embodiment of the invention;.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the toilet unit;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken along the diagonal angularline 33 of FIG. 2 showing the wonking parts and their normal positionswhen the unit is not in use; 1

FIG. 4 is a similar view showing the dump pan retracted and showing thehand pump in use; and

presently preferred FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary section along theline 3-3 of FIG. 2 showing the construction of the flushing nozzle ofthe hand pump.

As shown in FIG. 1b the presently preferred embodiment of the inventionis in the form of a rectangular tank or receptable having a front wall10, two opposite side walls 12, a back Wall 14 and a top wall 15. Theinterior of the tank is divided by a diagonal partition 18 (FIG. 2) intoa relatively small fresh water reservoir 20 and a relatively large wastecompartment 22.

The freshwater reservoir 20 is provided with a fill opening in the topWall 15 that is normally closed by a removable plug 24 and the wastecompartment 22 is provided with two discharge outlets, one being a loweroutlet in the back wall 14 that is normally closed by a suitableremovable plug 26 (FIG. 3), the other outlet being an outlet in theright side wall 12 above the liquid level in the waste tank, whichoutlet is normally closed.

by a removable plug 28. The lower back outlet is adapted for connectionby a fitting 30 with a spare flexible outlet pipe 32 that is shown inphantom in FIG. 2. The upper side outlet that is normally closed by theplug 28 is used for manually dumping the contents of the wastecompartment 22.

It is contemplated that the Weight of the toilet unit including themaximum amount of water in the reservoir 25) will be relatively light tomake the unit truly portable. For this purpose nearly all of the partsincluding the tank itself are preferably made of a suitable plasticwhich may be reinforced by embedded glass fibers. Suitable handles (notshown) may be provided for conveniencein lifting and carrying the unit.

The top wall 15 of the unit in the region of the waste 3 compartment 22is molded to offset configuration'to form a toilet bowl 34 having adownwardly concave bottom wall 35 that is preferably of sphericalcurvature and is provided with a suitable discharge outlet or port 36. Aconventional seat member 38 and a seat cover 40 are mounted on the topwall 15 over the toilet bowl 34, both the seat member and the seat coverbeing mounted by a common hinge fitting 42 in a well known manner.

What may be termed a dump pan 45 made of thin flexible plastic isnormally positioned below the discharge port 36 close to the bottom wallof the toilet bowl as shown in FIG. 3. The dump pan 45 is of generallyor approximately spherical curvature with its circumferential rim 46well above the discharge port 36 so that the dump pan may retain a smallbody of water 48 to serve as a gas seal for the discharge port.

It is important to note that the location of the discharge -port 36 isoff center, all or at least most of the discharge port being located toone side of a vertical plane that is indicated by dotted lines 50 inFIGS. 2 and 3. As indicated in FIG. 2 the vertical plane 50 isdiagonalwith respect to the seat of the toilet, the plane extending from theleft front of the seat to the rear right, the discharge port 36 of thetoilet bowl being on the rear side of the vature of the dump pan andlies in the plane 50. In the construction shown, the dump pan is formedwith integral wings 54 that extend upward on its opposite sides, the twowings being apertured to journal on a pair of trunnions that are fixedlymounted on the outer wall of the toilet bowl 34.

In the construction shown, the pair of wings 54 are confined bycorresponding washers 56 (FIG. 2) which back against cotter pins 58 onthe ends of the two trunnions. It is important to note that the twowashers 56 are spaced far enough apart to give the dump pan 45 a usefuldegree of freedom of movement along the axis of the two trunnions. Thusthe dump pan 45 is yieldable in two respects to avoid being jammed bysolid objects at the discharge port 36, the dump pan being made of thinflexible plastic for flexure for yielding action in one respect andbeing slidable on the two trunnions for yielding action in anotherrespect.

The dump pan 45 may be adapted for manual operation in any suitablemanner. A feature of the present embodiment of the invention is a simpleoperating'mechanism which includes an ear 60 on the dump pan and a pullrod 62 that is pivotally connected to the ear. The pull rod 62 isprovided with a suitable knob 64 to serve as a handle and the pull rodextends through a suitable elastomeric sealing grommet 65 in the topwall 15 of the tank. To provide the required pivotal connection with theear 60, the pull rod 62 extends through an oversized aperture in the earand the ear is confined between a pair of washers 66 that back againstcorresponding cotter pins 68.

One advantage of the geometry of the arrangement based on the diagonalpositioning of the two trunnions 55 is that the knob 64 for operatingthe dump pan is placed at a forward position of maximum convenience foroperation. Another important advantage of the geometry is that the offcenter location of the discharge port 36 of the toilet bowl greatlyshortens the stroke of the pull rod 62 that is necessary to completelyuncover the discharge port 36. It can be seen in FIG. 4 that if thedischarge port 36 were in a central bottom position, it would benecessary to retract the dump pan 45 much further to clear the dischargeport.

A feature of the preferred embodiment of the invention is the provisionof a wiper 70 for the dump pan 45, which wiper may be in the form of aplastic angle member bonded to the curved bottom wall 35 of the toiletbowl, the lower edge of the flange of the angle member conforming to thecurvature of the inner surface of the dump pan. It is apparent that whenthe dump pan 45 is shifted from its normal closed position shown in FIG.4, the wiper 70 displaces material from the surface of the dump pan intothe waste compartment 22.

A further feature of the preferred embodiment of the invention is theprovision of suitable means to serve as a splash guard to keep the smallbody of water 48 in the dump pan from being lost by splashing into thewaste receptacle 22 when the toilet unit is joggled by a vehicle inwhich it is carried. The splash guard may consist of a ring 72 formed byan angular plastic member, the ring being bonded to the under surface ofthe curved bottom wall 35 of the toilet bowl in a position that is closeto the peripheral rim 46 of the dump pan 45, the splash guard extendingclose to the surface of the dump pan to retain the body of water.

Any suitable manually operable means may be provided to discharge waterfrom the fresh water reservoir 20 into the toilet bowl 34 for thepurpose of flushing out the toilet bowl. In the construction shown inthe drawings, an inexpensive but efficient plastic hand pump, generallydesignated 75 is provided, the hand pump having a cylindrical barrel 76equipped with an intake valve 78 and an intake tube 80. Slidable in thecylindrical barrel 76 is. the usual piston 82 mounted on a piston rod 84that has a knob 85 at its outer end to serve as a pump 4- handle. Thepiston 82 has the usual valve which may be a flapper valve 86.

The upper end of the pump barrel 76 is provided with a lateral dischargespout 88 on which is mounted a plastic nozzle 90 that extends under theseat member 38 into the interior of the toilet bowl 34. As shown in FIG.5, the pump nozzle 90 is of tapered tubular configuration with its outerend closed by an end wall 92. The outer end of the pump nozzle 90 isprovided with three jet openings or orifices in the tubular wallcomprising two opposite longitudinal side slots 92 and a bottom orifice94. The two side slots 92 direct two corresponding jets of waterdiagonally downward in opposite directions, the two streams beingindicated by dotted lines 95 in FIGS. 2 and 4.

Because of the spherical configuration of the bottom of the toilet bowl,the two streams 95 sweep around towards the opposite side of the toiletbowl as indicated by the dotted lines in FIG. 2 and meet to combine toform a single resultant downstream that is highly effective for flushingmaterial through the discharge port 36. The bottom orifice 94 of thepump nozzle cooperates by creating a thin fan-shaped jet of waterindicated at 96 in FIGS. 2 and 4 to wash the area of the inner surfaceof the toilet bowl that is missed by the two divergent streams 95.

A feature of the invention is the manner in which the hand pump 75 ismounted on the unit for highly convenient removal and replacement. Thehand pump is retained simply in a frictional manner by an elastomericgrommet 98 that grips the pump barrel 76 in a substantially fluid tightmanner. When it is necessary to replace the pump, it is merely necessaryto lift the seat member 38 and pull the pump free from the grommet 98.It is seldom necessary to replace the pump nozzle 90 but the pump nozzlemay be united with the pump for replacement along with the pump.

The manner in which the toilet unit serves its purpose will be readilyunderstood from the foregoing description.v When the toilet is not inuse, the movable parts are normally in the positions shown in FIG. 3. Toflush the toilet, the pull rod 62 is elevated by means of the handle 64to retract the dump pan 45 to its open position shown in FIG. 4 and thehandle 85 of the hand pump is operated to discharge water into thetoilet bowl. As the dump pan 45 retracts it is effectively wiped by thewiper 70. At the end of the flushing operation, the dump pan 45 isreturned to its normal position and the hand pump is operated to deliveradditional water to the toilet bowl to fill the dump pan. When thetoilet unit is carried by a traveling vehicle, a splash guard 72effectively confines the body 48 of sealing water in the dump pan.

The toilet unit is light enough to be lifted and carried by virtue ofthe lightweight of the structure and by virtue of the capacity limit ofthe fresh water reservoir 20. The toilet unit may be easily lifted andcarried to any convenient permanent toilet where the plug 28 is removedto permit the waste compartment 22 to be emptied. The fresh waterreservoir 20 may then be replenished through the fill opening that isclosed by the plug 24. It is to be noted that the two elastomericgrommets 65 and 98 associated with the pull rod 62 and the pump barrel16, respectively, are effective to keep the liquids confined in the tankwhen the toilet unit is joggled by a traveling vehicle and when the unitis tipped over for the purpose of emptying the waste compartment 22.

If the vehicle is to remain for an extended period of time at a locationwhere a sewage outlet is available, the previously mentioned spareflexible pipe 32 that is shown in phantom in FIG. 2 may be connected tothe waste receptacle for the purpose of placing the waste receptacleinto communication with a sewer, as indicated in FIG. la.

Our description in specific detail of the selected embodiment of theinvention will suggest various changes, substitutions and otherdepartures from our disclosure within the spirit and scope of theappended claims.

We claim:

1. In a toilet of the character described, the combination of:

a toilet bowl with a downwardly convex bottom wall and a discharge porttherein;

a downwardly convex dump pan normally positioned below the dischargeport with the entire periphery of the dump pan above the level of thedischarge port to contain water to form a gas seal for the port;

means to support the dump pan for movement about a transverse axislocated at a level substantially above the bottom wall;

the discharge port being located towards one side of a vertical planethrough the axis;

means to swing the dump pan about the axis towards the opposite side ofthe vertical plane to clear the discharge .port;

and means to flush the bowl through the discharge port.

2. A combination as set forth in claim 1 in which the dump pan isconcentric to the axis; and

in which means projects downward from the bowl to wipe the dump panin-response to the retraction of the dump pan from the discharge port.

3. A combination as set forth in claim 1 in which means projectsdownward from the bowl towards the dump pan at the normal position ofthe dump pan to block spillage from the dump pan when the toilet istransported in a vehicle.

4. A combination as set forth in claim 1 in which said transverse axisis positioned diagonally of the toilet bowl as the toilet bowl is viewedin plan;

in which the swinging of the dump pan to clear the discharge port isforward towards one side of the toilet bowl; and

in which the means to swing the dump pan is manually operable meanspositioned forward towards said one side of the toilet bowl.

5. A combination as set forth in claim 1 in which said means to flushthe bowl through the discharge port is located towards said one side ofthe vertical plane.

6. A combination as set forth in claim 1 in which said discharge port isoffset rearwardly as the toilet bowl is viewed in plan.

7. A combination as set forth in claim 6 in which the flushing means islocated above the discharge port and directs Water downward towards thedischarge port.

8. In a toilet of the character described, the combination of:

a toilet bowl with a downwardly convex bottom wall and a discharge porttherein;

a downwardly convex dump pan normally positioned below the dischargeport with the entire periphery of the dump pan above the level of thedischarge port to contain water to form a gas seal for the port;

means to support the dump pan for movement about a transverse axislocated at a level -substantially above the bottom wall;

means to swing the dump pan about the axis to a position to permitdischarge of the contents of the bowl through the discharge port, thedumping pan being concentric to the axis;

means to flush the bowl through the discharge port;

and

means projecting downward from the bowl towards the dump pan at thenormal position of the dump pan to block spillage from the dump pan whenthe toilet is transported in a vehicle.

9. In a toilet of the character described, the combination of:

a toilet bowl with a downwardly convex bottom wall and a discharge porttherein;

a downwardly convex dump pan normally positioned below the dischargeport with the entire periphery of the dump pan above the level of thedischarge port to contain water to form a gas 'seal for the port;

means to support the dump pan for movement about a transverse axislocated at a level substantially above the bottom wall;

means to swing the dump pan about the axis to a position to permitdischarge of the contents of the bowl through the discharge port, thedumping pan being concentric to the axis;

means to flush the bowl through the discharge port;

and

means projecting downward from the bowl to wipe the dump pan in responseto the swinging movement of the dump pan.

10. In a toilet of the character described, the combination of:

a toilet bowl with a downwardly convex bottom wall and a discharge porttherein;

a downwardly convex dump pan normally positioned below the dischargeport with the entire periphery of the dump pan above the level of thedischarge port to contain water to form a gas seal for the port;

means to support the dump pan for movement about atransverse-axislocated at a level substantially above the bottom wall; I means to swingthe dump pan about the axis to a position to permit discharge of thecontents of the bowl through the discharge port;

a nozzle extending into the bowl at an upper level thereof to flush thebowl; and

a hand pump to deliver water to the nozzle, the nozzle being a tubularmember closed at its outer end with two opposite orifices in the tubularwall near its outerend directed downwardly in opposite directions toform two divergent streams of water to flush the major portion of thebowl, the nozzle having a third downwardly-directed orifice in itstubular wall near its outer end to flush the inner surface of the bowlin the region between the two opposite streams. 11. In a toilet of thecharacter described, the combination of:

a tank having a relatively large compartment for wastes and having acompartment for fresh water;

a bowl incorporated into the top of the tank, the bowl having adownwardly convex bottom wall with a discharge port therein;

' a downwardly convex dump pan normally positioned below the dischargeport with the entire periphery of the dump pan above the level of thedischarge port to contain water to form a water seal for the dischargeport;

means to support the dump pan for movement about a transverse axislocated at a level substantially above the bottom wall;

means to swing the dump pan about the axis to a position to permit thecontents of the bowl to be discharged through the discharge port;

a hand pump extending into the fresh water compartment, the pump havingan upper lateral nozzle directed into the bowl to flush the bowl,

the fresh water compartment being closed with a top wall with an openingtherein to receive the pump,.the opening having a resilient rim toembrace the pump below the nozzle in a sealing manner for frictionalretention of'the pump,

the tank, bowl and pump being of light weight and the fresh watercompartment being relatively small to limit the liquid content of thetank to make the tank with the liquid therein light enough to be lifted,carried and dumped by a person of average strength.

12. In a toilet of the character described, the combination of:

a tank having a relatively large waste compartment and having a secondcompartment for fresh water;

a bowl incorporated into the top of thetank, the bowl having adownwardly convex bottom wall with a discharge port therein;

a downwardly convex clump pan normally positioned below the dischargeport with the entire periphery of the dump pan above the level of thedischarge port to contain water to form a gas seal for the port;

means to support the dump pan for movement about a transverse axislocated at a level substantially above the bottom wall;

the discharge port being located towards one side of a vertical planethrough the axis;

means to swing the dump pan about the axis towards the opposite side ofthe vertical plane to clear the discharge port;

means projecting downward from the bowl to wipe the dump pan in responseto the swinging movement of the dump pan;

means projecting downward from the bowl towards the dump pan at thenormal position of the dump pan to block spillage from the dump pan; and

means including a hand pump to transfer water from the fresh Watercompartment to the bowl to flush the bowl through the discharge portinto the waste compartment, the tank, bowl and pump being of lightweight and the fresh water compartment being relatively small to limitthe liquid content of the tank to make the tank with the liquid thereinlight enough to be lifted, carried and dumped by a person of averagestrength.

13. A combination as set forth in claim 12 in which the dump pan is madeof highly flexible material for yielding deflection to avoid jamming ofthe dump pan by objects caught between the dump pan and the bowl.

1 4. A combination as set forth in claim 13 in which the dump pan isfree to shift along the axis to yield to objects caught between the dumppan and the bowl to avoid jamming of the dump pan by objects caughtbetween the dump pan and the bowl.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 253,519 2/1882Drew 4-128 569,206 10/1896 Jenkins 478 971,803 10/1910 Tarnawski 4781,198,057 9/1916 Ribaysen 478 1,757,684 5/1930 Pfisterer et al. 4781,777,108 9/1930 Schiller 478 LAVERNE D. GEIGER, Primary Examiner.

H. ARTIS, Assistant Examiner.

1. IN A TOILET OF THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED, THE COMBINATION OF: A TOILETBOWL WITH A DOWNWARDLY CONVEX BOTTOM WALL AND A DISCHARGE PORT THEREIN;A DOWNWARDLY CONVEX DUMP PAN NORMALLY POSITIONED BELOW THE DISCHARGEPORT WITH THE ENTIRE PERIPHERY OF THE DUMP PAN ABOVE THE LEVEL OF THEDISCHARGE PORT TO CONTAIN WATER TO FORM A GAS SEAL FOR THE PORT; MEANSTO SUPPORT THE DUMP PAN FOR MOVEMENT ABOUT A TRANSVERSE AXIS LOCATED ATA LEVEL SUBSTANTIALLY ABOVE THE BOTTOM WALL; THE DISCHARGE PORT BEINGLOCATED TOWARDS ONE SIDE OF A VERTICAL PLANE THROUGH THE AXIS;